Having been a fan and loyal listener of Smooth Jazz radio stations for 20-plus years, I can now say that I’m finally becoming a more sophisticated fellow, someone that my other friends on MySpace would be jealous of. That’s because a lot of my favorite jazz musicians have agreed to join my ever-growing circle of friends. Among them: my idols Ramsey Lewis and David Benoit; Down to the Bone; Euge Groove; Boney James; Marcus Miller; Eric Darius; Steve Cole; Greg Adams; Lee Ritenour; and Mindi Abair. And there are sure to be even more on the way. Looking back, I would like to believe that I was the reason for bringing WSMJ (104.3 FM) to Baltimore, and it came at the exact right time. Before that, I would spend most of my time at home listening online to WNUA in Chicago, and now that I’m back in the Windy City, I no longer need to. I have it as one of my presets on my home stereo, as well as the one in my car. You look at my profile and say how lucky I must be to have such classy friends. After all, I drive the best-selling car in America (a Toyota Camry), and listen to the most popular Smooth Jazz station of all time (WNUA 95.5), so I guess I am lucky. My friend in Charlotte says he still listens to WSMJ online, and he’s anticipating the day that the Queen City gets its own full-time Smooth Jazz station. Until then, he will continue to support WSMJ, even from 400-plus miles away. In fact, he tells me that there are no full-time stations in either North or South Carolina, and in addition to Charlotte, he would love to see some of these in Raleigh/Durham, Greensboro/Winston-Salem, Spartanburg/Greenville, Charleston, Columbia, Asheville, Fayetteville and Wilmington, to name a few. I tell him that if he’s ever in the Raleigh/Durham area on the weekends, he can listen to WZTK (101.1 FM). However, I already know that WMAG (99.5 FM) in Greensboro and WBAV (101.9 FM) in Charlotte have the Smooth Jazz Sunday Brunch, because he told me so. Sorry I missed out on the WBAV broadcast, because I left Charlotte very early in the morning, but I’ll try to spend a full week there if I ever come back again. Until then, I’ll remind him to keep hope alive, because in my mind, no town deserves it more than Charlotte! It’s a good thing he’s keeping it smooth, Carolina-style, and I hope that continues when he gets his wish. Don’t worry, buddy, your wish will come true.